As someone who is not a fan of mayo, I always assumed chicken salad was pretty gross. For the record, I still feel that way about egg salad. That all changed for me when I tried chicken salad from a local grocery's deli; yum! Rather than continue to pay $7.99 a lb for chicken salad, I set out to recreate it for myself. Thankfully, the deli posts all the ingredients for those with food allergies. They make copying so simple for you!
Local deli chicken salad
-cooked chicken (I used pieces left over from last night's crockpot rotisserie chicken) ~2 cups
-1/4 to 1/3 cup of mayo or greek yogurt
-2 green onions
-2 stalks of celery
-1 tsp of smoked paprika
-salt and pepper to taste.
Put all ingredients in your food processor and pulse 4 or 5 times, or until it reaches your desired consistency. Yep, that's it.
If you don't have a food processor, just shred the chicken, and finely dice the green onions and celery.
The above recipe is tailored to our preference, but wonderful additions could be sliced grapes, diced apples, and smoked almonds. The smoked paprika is the key to this recipe. Regular paprika will not cut it. You can get a big thing of smoked paprika at Costco for $4. I promise you, it's worth adding another bottle to your spice cabinet!
For a special treat, serve the chicken salad on an avocado in lieu of bread. Yum!Labels: Don't be a lazy ass - make it yourself, Main dishes, Poverty Cookbook